With its unique shape and strong social attributes, the Labubu series of trendy toys has triggered a “krypton gold” craze among young people, and is nicknamed “plastic Moutai”. From the domestic market to overseas, from genuine to imitation, Labubu’s influence is everywhere. This article will delve into the huge business ecology behind Labubu’s explosion, including players’ crazy krypton gold, premium transactions in the second-hand market, high profits from cross-border reselling, and the vigorous development of the imitation industry.
Since last year, a new series of trendy toys called Labubu has quietly become popular in North America.
This little monster with pointed ears and an “evil smile” suddenly appeared on the hot search lists of major social platforms. From influencer cafes in Los Angeles to trendy boutiques in New York, young people have become keen to share photos of themselves and Labubu, and this craze is blowing more and more like a gust of wind.
This trend quickly crossed the ocean and blew into China. Almost overnight, there was a long queue at the door of the Bubble Mart store, and young people could be seen hanging Labubu pendants on their mobile phone cases in the subway. This IP, which originally belonged to the niche collection circle, suddenly became the mascot of young people’s social interactions – the circle of friends has never posted Labubu, and if you don’t talk about a few words about the box drawing experience at the party, you can’t keep up with the topic.
As the producer of Labubu, Bubble Mart is undoubtedly the biggest winner of this wave of craze. According to the financial report for the first quarter of this year released by Bubble Mart, the overall revenue for the quarter increased by 165% to 170% year-on-year, of which China’s revenue increased by 95% to 100% year-on-year, and overseas revenue increased by 475% to 480% year-on-year.
It’s not just Bubble Mart. On the second-hand trading platform, the price of the limited Labubu has doubled several times; On social media, the fans of appraisers who teach people to distinguish authenticity have skyrocketed; Even factories that make “pirated copies” have seen a surge in orders.
In the business ecology formed at the moment of Labubu’s explosion, who are making a fortune in silence?
01 Spending 50,000 yuan in two months into the pit, Labubu became a new gold swallowing beast for young people
Xiao Lin, a “baby friend” who has been in Labubu for two months, told Tech Planet that at first she was watching the circle of friends and wanted to buy one to play, but she didn’t expect to buy more and more, and in just two months, she has spent nearly 50,000 yuan on second-hand transactions of various blind boxes and limited editions.
And “baby friends” like Xiang Xiaolin are not unique. With Labubu’s popularity in China, there are not a few young players like her who are “crazy about krypton gold”. At first, she was just pulled into the pit by her friends and spent 99 yuan to draw a basic model, but she was soon attracted by the hidden model and the special edition.
“After buying this one, I will look at it more, as long as it comes out with a new product, I can’t help but think of it.” In order to collect popular models such as “strawberry shortbread” and “skeleton”, she not only packed boxes, but also received rare models from second-hand platforms at high prices, with a single transaction of up to more than 5,000 yuan.
“Actually, I know it’s not cost-effective, but I just can’t stop,” Kobayashi admitted, and Labubu’s social attributes made it difficult for her to get out. Friends around me are posting new styles, and the online community discusses feel strategies every day, and some people even earn the difference by reselling. “I feel like if I don’t keep up, I will be eliminated by the circle.”
It is not easy to buy Labubu at the original price. Although Bubble Mart has issued several statements saying that it has been expanding its production line, it still cannot keep up with the crazy demand in the market.
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Xiao Lin told Tech Planet that at the moment when scalpers are rampant, it is even more difficult for “baby friends” to grab tickets with scalpers with channels and technology, and everyone has done enough strategy in order to grab the original price of goods, and they almost need to stay in the official live broadcast room of Bubble Mart around the clock, from 7 a.m. to 23 p.m., so that it is possible to grab it at the moment of launch.
Even so, the probability of success is very small, and some players will try the “brush back” method taught by the anchor, that is, repeatedly refresh the page to pick up those canceled orders, but this also requires a lot of luck.
Although many people are calling for a boycott of scalpers, there are still people who are buying Labubu from scalpers at a premium of dozens of times.
Taking the recently launched LABUBU3.0 series as an example, the blind box with an original price of 594 yuan has been speculated to about 1,000 yuan to 2,000 yuan in the second-hand market, and a single 99 yuan blind box is generally premium of about 200 yuan to 600 yuan, and the price of the hidden model is more than 2,500 yuan.
Second-hand product trading is mainly concentrated on platforms such as Xianyu, Qiandao and Dewu, and Xiao Lin told Tech Planet that Xianyu, as the largest second-hand trading platform, is relatively cheap but mixed, and it is difficult for ordinary buyers to distinguish between authenticity and authenticity. As a professional trend trading platform, Dewu has the strictest review and the most guaranteed appearance, but the corresponding price is also the highest among the three platforms.
Qiandao offers two transaction methods: transfer and flash sale. The transfer is done through the official Bubble Mart system, and the seller transfers the goods from his own box cabinet directly to the buyer’s box cabinet, which requires a long wait, but can ensure the authenticity.
Flash sales are products purchased by Qiandao from the official channels of Bubble Mart, including some defective genuine products with imperfect quality, and the price will be relatively cheaper. Some “baby friends” shared on social platforms that they bought flash sale goods in order to save 20 yuan, but the dolls they received were roughly made, and the gap with the regular price was obvious, so they could only consider themselves unlucky.
In this crazy market, many players have chosen the purchase method of “end box”, that is, buying a whole box of blind boxes at one time. Although this is a large investment, it can ensure that you get a full set of styles, and the styles you don’t want to keep can also be resold through the second-hand market. Many people find opportunities to make money here, and gradually change from “fans” to “pink cows”, earning the difference by reselling. Xiao Lin told Tech Planet that one of his baby friends once earned more than 30,000 yuan in a week in this way.
However, when ordinary players sell on platforms such as Xianyu, they often face long waits and fierce price competition. In contrast, professional scalpers have become the priority of many players because of their stable customer base and higher purchase price. These scalpers usually buy popular styles in large quantities and then change hands at higher prices, earning a significant price difference.
02 Cross-border “inverted” side hustle earns 50,000 yuan a month
The explosion of Labubu not only drove the sales of the blind box itself, but also gave birth to a huge peripheral industrial chain. This craze has made many originally niche businesses suddenly become hot, from handmade customization to cross-border resale, forming a diverse business ecosystem.
On social media, a baby clothes seller named Xiaoyu found a business opportunity. Xiaoyu told Tech Planet that she was originally a senior star chaser, and after buying a large number of cotton dolls with celebrity images, she began to design and sell baby clothes by herself driven by her interest.
Originally, her customer base was only the part of the fans who liked cotton dolls, but after Labubu became popular, an old customer came to ask her if she could make certain styles to fit the size of Labubu dolls, and she soon realized that this could greatly expand her business scope, so she immediately turned to this new field.
With ready-made materials and technology, she only needs to make a little adjustment to the original design to make clothes suitable for Labubu, and many celebrities have the same style of clothes that make consumers who like to chase stars and Labubu at the same time want to stop. From 29 yuan shoes to 368 yuan of clothes, in just three months, her small store created nearly 500,000 yuan in sales with only 6 baby clothes.
In addition to baby clothing merchants, on the second-hand trading platform Qiandao, Labubu’s popularity has also led to a sharp increase in orders for a niche profession, such as trendy appraisers. An appraiser provides services at a price of 3 yuan each time and has completed more than 3,500 appraisals. At the same time, he also runs a Labubu resale business, forming a complete business closed loop.
This craze has also spawned a number of cross-border “fallen masters”. Due to the higher price of Labubu in overseas markets, many overseas Chinese began to form groups to buy in China. They have established a fixed customer base, specializing in snapping up popular styles, and then selling them to Europe, America, Southeast Asia and other places at double prices.
The basic blind box sold for 99 yuan in China sells for $20-25 in the United States, equivalent to 144 to 180 yuan, and in the United Kingdom for 17 pounds, equivalent to 160 yuan, while the price in Thailand is more than 3 times that of China, and even limited edition models will be sold more than 10 times in China. After these people buy in China, they only need to sell a little lower than the local price to make easy money, and a seller in this industry told Tech Planet that some people can earn 30,000 to 50,000 yuan a month from this side hustle alone.
What’s even more surprising is that some products that were originally unrelated to trendy toys have also hitchhiked. Pinku brand phoenix crown jewelry was originally sold as traditional ornaments, but when consumers found that these exquisite accessories could perfectly match Labubu, the products were immediately sold out. According to the data of the flagship store, the best-selling Dian Cui series has sold more than 30,000 pieces, of which the Dian Cui Phoenix Crown, priced at 339 yuan per piece, has to implement a purchase restriction policy, and the whole set of products has been sold at a high price of 1,754 yuan.
03 After the fake imitation also became popular
Behind the hot market of Labubu, nicknamed “plastic Moutai”, there is another phenomenon that cannot be ignored is the vigorous development of the imitation industry. Unlike in the past, today’s imitation market is no longer a simple “copycat” concept, but has formed a complex grading system, which even challenges the genuine market in some aspects.
Among high-imitation manufacturers, some manufacturers have adopted quite professional operating methods. They will recycle empty boxes from genuine buyers and then pack high-imitation products into them. This so-called “imitation” product can even be verified by the official scanning code, because the packaging is indeed genuine, but the contents have been swapped.
The price of this type of imitation is usually about 200-300 yuan more expensive than ordinary imitations, but it still has a great price advantage compared to genuine products that are often more than ten times more premium. A factory owner engaged in trendy toy OEM processing revealed: “Bubble Mart itself is also produced by a foundry, and we just use a similar process. ”
The factory owner told Tech Planet that since the start of producing Labubu imitations, the factory’s monthly turnover has tripled compared to before, the monthly order volume is still growing, and the quotation has gradually increased with market changes.
The rise of live streaming has further blurred the boundaries between genuine and imitation. An industry insider told Tech Planet that many live broadcast rooms claim to sell “original goods”, but in fact, Bubble Mart’s three foundries (located in Shenzhen, Zhongshan and Gannan, Jiangxi) have signed strict confidentiality agreements, and it is unlikely that a large number of “original tail goods” will flow out. Most of the so-called “original goods” in these live broadcast rooms are high-imitation products, but because of the price advantage, they still attract many consumers.
The market’s acceptance of imitations is changing subtly. Some consumers believe that since genuine products are also produced by foundries, it is understandable to buy genuine copies as long as the quality of the imitation products passes. Interestingly, due to the frequent quality control problems of Bubble Mart, some consumers even think that the quality of some genuine products is more stable than the genuine products.
In the European and American markets, the fake name “Lafufu” (f stands for fake, fake) has caused a craze among netizens to show off their babies and ugliness because of its various deformations, but because of its funny shape, it has become a hot meme on the Internet, and some special styles of Lafufu have also caused a rush.
These phenomena reflect the complex ecology of the current Lafufu market: on the one hand, the price of genuine products soars because of scarcity; On the other hand, the imitation industry is also constantly improving its craftsmanship to meet the needs of consumers at different levels.
In this mixed market, consumers need to keep their eyes open, and brands also need to think about how to better maintain product quality and brand value.
